The Thai Ministry of Public Health has adopted four precautionary measures to cope with a respiratory illness which is now spreading among children in northern China.
Several experts in infectious diseases, among them Professor Dr. Yong Poovorawan, Professor Dr. Kulkanya Chokephaibulkit and Associate Professor Dr. Tawee Chotpitayasunondh, have been mobilised by the ministry for consultations and to help in developing measures to cope with the disease.
The first measure is surveillance. Health officials, especially in tourist provinces, have been instructed to monitor pneumonia cases in hospitals, to report cases of unknown cause and to take specimens from the patients for lab tests. If there is an unusual upsurge in pneumonia or respiratory illness cases among patients or medical staff, the officials must conduct an investigation and take specimens from the patients for analysis, so…
